Pol Espargaro will commence his second Americas Grand Prix on the Yamaha YZR-M1 from the rear of the third row after undertaking a thorough qualifying effort today in Texas. The young Spaniard opened his Saturday account positively by finishing in 6^th position in FP3, with a lap of 2’03.773. This performance saw him elevate instantly through to Q2 as the weather threatened rain which then failed to fall. Once the qualifying practice began, Espargaro launched into action and undertook 7 laps before setting a 2’03.161 on his last. Impressively, this time was a massive improvement of over seven tenths of a second from last year’s qualifying. After a positive weekend so far, the Monster Yamaha Tech3 Team rider will be seeking to battle to a strong result in tomorrow’s 21 lap dash in America.

Meanwhile, Britain’s Bradley Smith will start round 2 of the MotoGP World Championship one place behind his teammate in 10^th. The 23 year old began his day with a bright sprint to 5^th position in FP3 with a top time of 2’03.666 which was a mere two hundredths of a second back from 3^rd place. This left the British star confident of a successful Q2 campaign, yet unfortunately he experienced a technical issue on his MotoGP bike at the start of the session which forced him to make a pit stop and then change to his second Yamaha which was equipped with a used front tyre. Despite this, Smith pushed onwards before finishing with a best lap of 2’03.440. Tomorrow he will attempt to replicate his performance of last year at the Circuit Of The Americas, where he finished in 5^th and as the leading Yamaha.

"To be honest I am not at all satisfied with our qualifying result as we managed to solve all of the issues that we faced this morning and the bike was good. However, I made a mistake on my fast lap and ran straight on. After that, I was able to improve my lap time but the tyre wasn't fresh anymore and that unfortunately makes a huge difference at this track. I have nobody to blame as it was my own fault, but for sure starting from the back of the third row won't make things any easier tomorrow. Nevertheless we must remain confident as the race is long and also the weather forecast is not clear as of yet."

Profil

"It goes without saying that I’m disappointed to finish today in 10th. We had some technical troubles during FP4 and we couldn't fix them in time for QP 2. Unfortunately, this meant that I had to stop to change the bike, which is far from ideal in a 15 minute session on such a long circuit. Furthermore, we didn’t have time to swap the front tyre on the second bike, so I did my laps with a used one. It was a session where nothing went our way, so it’s disappointing to start from the fourth row. However, we have had the pace all weekend and I remain upbeat as our race pace is consistent, so now we just need to adjust the bike a little in warm up and then we will be ready. The race is a long one here but I feel comfortable with the bike plus I am confident of making some good overtakes at the beginning so I am still optimistic that we can have a competitive race tomorrow."

Profil